Team News:

New Zealand(NZ):

Tom Latham has made an adequate recovery from his finger injury to slot into the middle-order and take the gloves. Williamson reckoned Colin Munro was “fine” and with Henry Nicholls battling an injury, should take up the opening slot uncontested. New Zealand love battering sub-continent teams with pace and seam and could sacrifice one spinner in the XI. Tim Southee is battling a non-serious niggle of his own, and should he get ruled out on the morning of the game, New Zealand can play both spinners and trust all-rounders Neesham and de Grandhomme to bowl after Boult and Lockie Ferguson.

Sri Lanka’s possibilities of structuring a XI are limitless. They played Lahiru Thirimanne in the lower-order middle-order in the Scotland ODI, but it is evident that No.6 is far from ideal for the southpaw. Karunaratne all but confirmed that young Avishka Fernando will miss out, keeping Thirimanne at the top.

Kusal Perera will take the gloves and play in the middle-order. Jeffrey Vandersay bowled through Sri Lanka’s optional net session on match eve and should join spin-bowling all-rounders Dhananjaya and Jeevan Mendis in a troika. Isuru Udana’s recent form will force a toss up between Nuwan Pradeep and Suranga Lakmal for the second seamer’s slot.

What to Expect:

Cardiff experienced a wet and cold spell since the Bank Holiday Monday but the weather cleared up two days out from the game. Saturday is forecast to be the warmest day of the week, with a high of 20 degrees Celsius and only a 10% chance of rain. As in the India-Bangladesh warm-up game, conditions will assist seamers with the morning start. The pitch traditionally slows down a touch through the game and could bring the spinners into the game in the afternoon.

Sri Lanka have the lowest win percentage (28.24) since the last World Cup among the 10 participating teams in this edition. They are 0-4 in games at Cardiff

Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor share a prolific average partnership of 90.11 in the UK. Their last six stands here read: 121, 206, 101, 99, 95 & 83

In the ODI’s since April 2015, Sri Lanka have lost the most wickets (132) while New Zealand have taken the joint-most number of wickets (120) in the first Power Play

Venue Guide:

Stadium: Sophia Gardens

City: Cardiff

Capacity: 15,000

Hosts to: Glamorgan

Venue Scoring Pattern:

Avg 1st inn score: 227

Avg 2nd inn score: 216

Highest Total: 342/8 (50 Ov) by ENG vs AUS

Lowest Total: 138/10 (37.5 Ov) by SL vs NZ

Highest Chased: 304/6 (48.2 Ov) by PAK vs ENG

Lowest Defended: 169/10 (23.3 Ov) by ENG vs NZ

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is the 12th edition of the Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be hosted by England and Wales from 30 May to 14 July 2019. Total 48 One Day Internationals for 46 Days of Cricket Battle between 10 Teams.